The Story of a Marriage: A Novel

The Story of a Marriage: A Novel
by Andrew Sean Greer

The Story of a Marriage: A Novel
List Price: $22.00
Our Price: $12.29
You Save: $9.71 (44%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $11.45 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Andrew Sean Greer
Edition: Hardcover
Published: 2008-04-29
ISBN: 0374108668
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Book Reviews of The Story of a Marriage: A Novel

Book Review: Tinny and Artificial
Summary: 3 Stars

Pearlie has a taste for aphoristic musings. "We think we know the ones we love," she writes. "But what we love turns out to be a poor translation, a translation we ourselves have made, from a language we barely know." These quasi-Proustian observations and their associated metaphors are brought to a state of high polish. But Greer's plotting doesn't always live up to Pearlie's commentary. A side-story involving a spirited white girl who's secretly engaged to a prejudiced soda-jerk is tacked on to the main plot in a way that's both implausible and underexplained. Pearlie's sympathy for Buzz blooms remarkably quickly, and there's an excess of busily symbolic detail. If the characters watch a movie, overhear a TV show or read the words printed on a paper bag, what they come across will be eerily reflective of their predicament.
Most of all, Greer's first big narrative bombshell doesn't detonate with the force that he seems to be hoping for. After all the wary looks from white neighbors, references to the status of the "colored" population, mentions of Pearlie's "community" and descriptions of visits to segregated lunchrooms, only very inattentive readers will be startled to learn that the Cooks are black; some might even wonder why Pearlie has tried to play such a heavy-handed trick. The surprises in what follows are managed more skillfully, and Greer has clearly done his homework on the time he's depicting. But the artificial, slightly tinny resonance never goes away.

Summary of The Story of a Marriage: A Novel

From the bestselling author of The Confessions of Max Tivoli, a love story full of secrets and astonishments set in 1950s San Francisco
“We think we know the ones we love.” So Pearlie Cook begins her indirect and devastating exploration of the mystery at the heart of every relationship, how we can ever truly know another person.

It is 1953 and Pearlie, a dutiful housewife, finds herself living in the Sunset district of San Francisco, caring not only for her husband’s fragile health but also for her son, who is afflicted with polio. Then, one Saturday morning, a stranger appears on her doorstep and everything changes. All the certainties by which Pearlie has lived are thrown into doubt. Does she know her husband at all? And what does the stranger want in return for his offer of $100,000? For six months in 1953, young Pearlie Cook struggles to understand the world around her, most especially her husband, Holland.
Pearlie’s story is a meditation not only on love but also on the effects of war—with one war just over and another one in Korea coming to a close. Set in a climate of fear and repression—political, sexual, and racial—The Story of a Marriage portrays three people trapped by the confines of their era, and the desperate measures they are prepared to take to escape it. Lyrical and surprising, The Story of a Marriage looks back at a period that we tend to misremember as one of innocence and simplicity.
Like Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier, Andrew Sean Greer’s novel is a narrative tour de force that confirms him as “one of the most talented writers around” (Michael Chabon).

Contemporary Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Why I Love Romance
TailSpin (FBI Thriller, No. 12) ImageTailSpin (FBI Thriller, No. 12)
by Catherine Coulter
Putnam Adult; Published: 2008-06-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.75
Price in other shops: $25.95
Acheron (Dark-Hunter, Book 12) ImageAcheron (Dark-Hunter, Book 12)
by Sherrilyn Kenyon
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2008-08-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.50
Price in other shops: $24.95
The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld, Book 1) ImageThe Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld, Book 1)
by Gena Showalter
HQN Books; Published: 2008-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.35
Price in other shops: $6.99
The Time Traveler's Wife ImageThe Time Traveler's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger
Harvest Books; Published: 2004-05-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops: $14.00
Duke Most Wanted (Heiress Brides) ImageDuke Most Wanted (Heiress Brides)
by Celeste Bradley
St. Martin's Paperbacks; Published: 2008-04-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.98
Price in other shops: $6.99
Love Walked In ImageLove Walked In
by Marisa de los Santos
Plume; Published: 2006-11-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.98
Price in other shops: $14.00
One Foot in the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 2) ImageOne Foot in the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 2)
by Jeaniene Frost
Avon; Published: 2008-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.91
Price in other shops: $6.99
The Story of a Marriage: A Novel ImageThe Story of a Marriage: A Novel
by Andrew Sean Greer
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2008-04-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.46
Price in other shops: $22.00
Wicked Pleasure (Bound Hearts) ImageWicked Pleasure (Bound Hearts)
by Lora Leigh
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2008-05-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.50
Price in other shops: $13.95
Damien (The Nightwalkers, Book 4) ImageDamien (The Nightwalkers, Book 4)
by Jacquelyn Frank
Zebra; Published: 2008-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.46
Price in other shops: $6.99
Similar Books and other products
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ImageThe Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot D?az
Riverhead Hardcover; Published: 2007-09-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.37
Price in other shops: $24.95
The Secret Scripture ImageThe Secret Scripture
by Sebastian Barry
Viking Adult; Published: 2008-06-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops: $24.95
The Confessions of Max Tivoli: A Novel ImageThe Confessions of Max Tivoli: A Novel
by Andrew Sean Greer
Picador; Published: 2005-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.80
Price in other shops: $14.00
Lush Life: A Novel ImageLush Life: A Novel
by Richard Price
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2008-03-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.00
Price in other shops: $26.00
The Third Angel: A Novel ImageThe Third Angel: A Novel
by Alice Hoffman
Shaye Areheart Books; Published: 2008-04-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.99
Price in other shops: $25.00
The Plague of Doves: A Novel ImageThe Plague of Doves: A Novel
by Louise Erdrich
Harper; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.95
Price in other shops: $25.95
My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov to Munro ImageMy Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov to Munro
Harper; Published: 2008-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.27
Price in other shops: $24.95
Netherland: A Novel ImageNetherland: A Novel
by Joseph O'Neill
Pantheon; Published: 2008-05-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.91
Price in other shops: $23.95
Unaccustomed Earth ImageUnaccustomed Earth
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Knopf; Published: 2008-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.75
Price in other shops: $25.00
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel ImageThe Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel
by David Wroblewski
Ecco; Published: 2008-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.77
Price in other shops: $25.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories